Broncos’ John Elway, Brian Xanders scout Cal practice

Andrew Luck wasn’t the only excuse for John Elway to get out of the office. Elway, the Hall of Fame quarterback and boss of the Broncos’ football operations, and team general manager Brian Xanders are scouting the Northern California colleges this week.

Elway and Xanders scouted the University of California’s practice Thursday.

Xanders has been scouting college pro prospects two or three days a week since the season started and Elway is joining him as part of his first-year apprentice work as a front-office executive.

Elway and Xanders will meet up with the Broncos when the team arrives Saturday for their game Sunday at Oakland.

A big deal was made when Elway was spotted scouting Stanford’s practice Wednesday where Luck is the quarterback and projected No. 1 draft pick. But Stanford has two offensive linemen (tackle Jonathan Martin and guard David DeCastro) who are also projected first-round picks.

Cal’s best NFL prospects are defensive end Trevor Guton and receiver Marvin Jones.

What? Stanford has two offensive linemen who are projected 1st round picks?? Could they possibly be of benefit to Andrew Luck at present? Why I’ve heard the point made numerous times over how, granted, Luck doesn’t face much great competition playing at Stanford, but at the same time how he’s handicapped by a lack of great players on his team to work with. And of course that’s often compared to Tebow who was great in college supposedly and solely due to the talented team which surrounded him (the same talented team which has struggled mightily, btw, ever since Tebow left).

My point has nothing to do with who is, was or will be the better quarterback. I don’t care. I wish them both well. My point is, the arguments for and against are often baseless and beyond annoying. Luck and his team will be truly tested if and when they play either Alabama or LSU in the National Championship game. I hope they get the opportunity because that will be interesting to watch.

Anonymous

Cal. Another left-wing, liberal, elitist, commie school of weaklings and unAmericans.

Elway, get yourself to Texas, Oklahoma, and the Southeastern Conference. That’s where Real Right God Fearing Men play football for Real Americans.

Seminoleup

Had Dan Reeves or someone with the organization done the same thing when Elway was the QB, Elway would have called his agent, whined to whomever, just like he did when Maddox was drafted. It’s ironic, John hated the Dan Reeves conservative I-formation, stay in the pocket, however as an executive he sits silent as McCoy had the Broncos running the Wishbone against Detroit, and overloaded the line of scrimmage against both Miami and Detroit with two tight ends one of which was tackle eligible #75 (yawn). Those plays made Reeves look like a fun and gun coach.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.